I never heard of it when it was a "hit Broadway show." I never heard of Jonny Donahoe, whose one-man show it is. And when I happened to skim past it on HBO, I thought at first that it was stand-up comedy.

Every Brilliant Thing is listed as a documentary, //

onny Donahoe, a plump, energetic, charming Brit, grew up with a bipolar mother, who vacillated between bursts of ecstatic energy and deep, soul-destroying depression. Even in his youth, Donahoe was aware that his mother lived on the brink of suicide, and one of his efforts to inspire her not to kill herself was a massive list.

It didn't start out massive. His modest goal was to come up with a couple of hundred things that made life worth living -- a list of "every brilliant thing." Soon it became a list of a thousand brilliant things, and then hundreds of thousands.

By any measure, it became his life's work. Because he, too, suffered from depression, and this list was as much talking to himself as it was talking to his mother.

During the show Every Brilliant Thing, we hear maybe fifty entries from the list. They range from perfectly ordinary things which become brilliant when you hear them mentioned in this context. Others truly are extraordinary, though it's easy for us to forget about them.

The list itself would be enough to make this potentially depressing show an exercise in optimism. But the list is merely the maguffin, and you do not have to be or know a person who wrestles with suicidal impulses in order to be glad you watched Every Brilliant Thing.

Because, ultimately, this show is not just about suicide. On another level, it's a really funny and inspiring example of live theatre at its best. Because in telling his story, Donahoe involves the audience. To many people in this tiny arena house, he has given entries in the list -- with numbers either high or low. They wait for their number to be called out, and then in a clear voice they read that particular "brilliant thing."

But this is only the beginning, because Donahoe is telling stories, and when he needs to stage a scene, he does -- with audience members as actors. Now, it's possible that these are ringers, but I don't think so. I've seen few actors who could fake the natural responses of these people. After the show, we hear snatches of conversation between these audience members, making it clear that no, they had not been coached, except whatever coaching Donahoe himself gives on stage right in front of us.

Via The Guardian: Lockdowns and face masks ‘unequivocally’ cut spread of Covid, report finds. Excerpt:

Measures taken during the Covid pandemic such as social distancing and wearing face masks “unequivocally” reduced the spread of infections, a report has found.

Experts looked at the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) – not drugs or vaccines – when applied in packages that combine a number of measures that complement one another.

All of this is theoretical anyway, as it would take a constitutional amendment to institute age maximums. Because guess what? A solution already exists. Vote them out. We act as if these septuagenarians and octogenarians have been thrust upon us by some unknown force. We put them there. If three-quarters of voters truly believed Biden is too old for office, they would find someone else to run. But Democrats would rather pretend that the president, not exactly Cicero in his best days, is an intellectual and physical dynamo because they want to hold onto power. Deep down they know no one in their right mind thinks a fresh-faced Mayor Pete is any better.

The reality is that when it matters, voters across the country love the old timers — perhaps because they are known quantities or maybe they bring home the money or maybe people genuinely like them. If they didn’t, none of them would be in Washington.

What was the justification when immigration policy preferences of less than 10% of the electorate dominated 90% of the electorate for decades from the early 1960s to the late 1990s, and even today, dominates with more than 75% opposing increased immigration?

Source:  US Department of Homeland Security

It must have been an overwhelmingly obvious justification for that 10% -- so obvious that the 90% could be discounted as ignorant if not xenophobic rubes, unworthy of anything remotely resembling consent of the governed, normally considered the overriding human right in any significant dispute.  That human right was tossed out the window for some reason.

What was that reason?

The reason most frequently trotted out during this era was that "diversity is our greatest strength" and that the "greatness" attributed to the United States was "diverse" because it was a "nation of immigrants".

OK, that sounds good, but what was the support for this assertion -- support that must have been so overwhelmingly intense and urgent, even if obvious to only an "educated" elite, as to justify throwing out the most fundamental of all human rights for decades in, not just the US, but in all of European derived governments -- in a policy that most believe to cause irreversible changes?

Whatever that support might have been, the most comprehensive academic study of the actual results of that massive violation of human rights supported the opposite conclusion: //

Let's look at the long term, not in terms of anecdotal polemics, but in terms of statistics: A large number of operationally defined data points comparing "diversity" and "human development" in the world maps (see below), of these. Superficially, what we see is that in areas with the highest "diversity" we find the lowest "human development". At the other extreme, such as Scandinavia with its very low "diversity", we see the highest "human development" (Norway was ranked #1 in "human development" by the UN).

But this is a relatively superficial view of these maps. With a closer reading for what might be called "long term" effects, we see that in the places with the longest history of "diversity", such as sub-Saharan Africa, there is not only the highest "diversity" but the lowest "human development". Moreover, the apparent exceptions in places like the US and Canada were, until recently, so lacking in "diversity" that the attitudes of men in those prior eras, by today's standards, are considered "white nationalist" if not "white supremacist" or even "Nazi".

Beginners may find it difficult to relate the facts from the formal documentation on the BSD rc.d framework with the practical tasks of rc.d scripting. In this article, we consider a few typical cases of increasing complexity, show rc.d features suited for each case, and discuss how they work. Such an examination should provide reference points for further study of the design and efficient application of rc.d.

This user guide contains all essential information for the user to make full use of MeshCentral, a free open source web-based remote computer management software. The guide provides quick steps to setup administrative groups to remote control and manage computers in local network environments or via the Internet. Latter parts of the document will cover some advanced topics. The reader is expected to already have some of the basic understanding on computer networking, operating system and network security.

The ultimate in camshaft protection for your classic and racing motors! Don't allow stricter E.P.A. standards lead to the premature deterioriation of your engines. ZDDP Maxx replenishes the much needed zinc and phosphorous in your oil to keep your non-roller lifters from early deterioration. Simply add one 2oz bottle of ZDDP Maxx to 4 or 5 quarts of your favorite oil, and for racing engines, add 1oz per quart Manufactured by ZDDP MAXX for ZDDP Maxx. Turbo maxx oil additive doubled oil change intervals stops stiction cleans the engine stops friction and wear better than any product.

To modify existing admin accounts:

1. Log in to the JumpCloud Admin Portal: https://console.jumpcloud.com.
2. In the top right of the Portal, click the circle with your initials to access your JumpCloud Account menu. 
3. Select Administrators. The Settings > Administrators tab opens.
4. Click details for the administrator you want to modify. The Edit Administrator panel appears.
5. You can enable Multi-factor Authentication or select a new Role for the administrator account. Learn about JumpCloud roles in Admin Portal Roles.
6. After you make modifications, click edit. 

Flying with other live aircraft and the accompanying radio chatter was an experience like no other. Sure, my feet never left terra firma, but my mind was really flying. The prep work to pass the final CAT flight was real, and using the correct phraseology on the radios and working through the three-dimensional problem-solving in real time to navigate the complex airspace of KSAN required my complete attention. The effort was real, even though the flight was virtual.

This is the value proposition provided by having a flight sim in your own home: You can focus on nearly any element of flying that you want to learn or practice and, by doing so, carve back some quality aviation time in your life. My goal has been to fly in my sim once or twice a week, usually starting at 10 p.m. to best minimize distractions.

If New York millionaire Democrats paid half as much attention to border policy as illegal immigrants do, maybe they’d grasp what’s going on at the border, and why. Maybe they could then start to make sense of the anger and frustration of working- and middle-class residents of their cities, who increasingly show up at public meetings to express outrage at the migrant crisis.

The open source, multi-platform, self-hosted, feature packed web site for remote device management.

This user guide contains all essential information for the user to make full use of MeshCentral, a free open source web-based remote computer management software. The guide provides quick steps to setup administrative groups to remote control and manage computers in local network environments or via the Internet. Latter parts of the document will cover some advanced topics. The reader is expected to already have some of the basic understanding on computer networking, operating system and network security.

"The extinction of the human race will come from its inability to emotionally comprehend the exponential function." - Edward Teller

"The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function." - Al Bartlett

Below is a first-order (approximate) description of a fast (potentially very fast) doubling time system for remediation of civilization's environmental damage. The fast doubling time drives exponential growth that could, at enormous profit and in under 15 years, drastically reduce civilization's ecological impact while, incidentally, sequestering large amounts of CO2. It is not intended to overcome Dr. Bartlett's accusation that sustainable growth is impossible and cornucopian thinking is "The New Flat Earth Society". It is intended merely to argue that imminent environmental catastrophes may, with appropriate refinements and corrections of the described system, be averted within the time estimated for environmental catastrophes by some of the more pessimistic projections (usually several decades rather than a mere 15 years).

An important principle to keep in mind is that as baseload electricity costs decrease, recycling beats other sources of raw materials. This means that if one is targeting zero environmental footprint, the most compelling path is through lower baseload electric cost simply because recycling is more economical than waste.

Lest one of my trolls accuse me of a "victory is just around the corner" mentality, I can assure you that is not the case. As Clausewitz observed, war is a continuation of "political intercourse" by other means. Ending the war is a political, not a military, problem. Victory is defined in world capitals, not on the battlefield. What the Ukrainian Armed Forces are showing is that in planning, leadership, and execution, they are overmatching the Russians. Whether that leads to victory and what that victory looks like remains to be seen. //

Shashank Joshi
@shashj
·
Follow
I thought figure was over 600. Didn’t realise it was over 700. That suggests there have been many non-public expulsions of suspected Russian intelligence officers from Europe.
Christopher Miller
@ChristopherJM
“At least 705 diplomats suspected of spying have been expelled from Russian embassies across the world since 2022 – almost twice as many as the whole of the previous 20 years.”
9:05 AM · Aug 25, 2023 //

Russia went into this war a second-tier power. It's going to come out of it with the political and military clout of Burkina Faso...with nukes. //

Yevgeny Prigozhin did not have long to work out who had killed him. But he had long enough. He must have twigged.

It can’t have been more than a few seconds between the explosion aboard the otherwise reliable Embraer Legacy 600 executive jet, and the moment the Russian thug blacked out in his vertiginous acceleration to earth; and yet in that instant I am certain that he knew with perfect clarity what had happened.

He knew whose hidden hand was sending him 28,000 ft down, to be immolated with the rest of his Wagner group companions in a fireball in the countryside of the Tver region north of Moscow — and then on downwards, of course, for the shade of Prigozhin: down, down to Hades and the Tartarean pit below.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12445989/BORIS-JOHNSON-Yevgeny-Prigozhin-assassination-Putin.html //

CJ @CasualArtyFan
·
ICYMI: US Army just dropped a massive update to our C-UAS doctrine, and clearly took quite a few drone-related lessons from Ukraine to heart.

https://irp.fas.org/doddir/army/atp3-01-81.pdf
8:30 PM · Aug 25, 2023 //

The latest drone strikes using cardboard planes is just adding insult to injury.

Installation
Getting started is easy. If you don't have it already, install (NodeJS)[https://nodejs.org/]. Then, create an empty folder and do this:

 npm install meshcentral
 node node_modules/meshcentral

That's it. MeshCentral will set itself up and start managing computers on your local network. By default it will be setup in LAN mode and agents you install will multicast on the local network to find the server. To setup the server so that agents use a well known DNS name and to start customizing your server, go in the "meshcentral-data" folder and edit the config.json file. The configuration file must be valid JSON, you can use (this link)[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=json+lint&t=h_&ia=answer] to validate the file format.

Turbo Maxx can be used in any engine or gear box it has the proper make up to more that double oil life under the most extreme conditions.Directions add 1/4 to 1/2 oz per qt of oil. 16 oz will treat 32 to 64 qt.

Anthony also shared his salvation story while talking to Rogan, speaking of an injury he sustained that left him feeling desperate and alone. While lying in a hospital bed suffering from a fractured skull, he proclaimed, "I can't do this anymore," and asked God to give him another chance to accomplish what he felt was left for him to do in this life.

The singer also alluded to the writings of the Apostle Paul in Romans, noting that everyone is destined to become a slave to something and that choosing God over fleeting, worldly idols is the right path.

ANTHONY: We all serve some master, whether we realize it or not, so why not let it be the master that is above all? //

As I said in my prior writings on the man, I think those trying to make him some political force are misguided (on both sides). I don't think that's his goal, and that's not something that should be chastised. I don't really care what political party he supports or who he voted for in 2020. There's more to life than political slap-fighting, and reading scripture to Joe Rogan seems like a pretty worthwhile cause to me. //

etba_ss
3 hours ago edited
Rogan is far more likely to let the words from Anthony sink in than he would be if he had John McArthur or Tony Evans on. And it isn't just Rogan, but million and millions of Rogan's listeners. Most of them are probably not hearing the Word of God on a regular basis anywhere else.

Anthony openly admits he is a broken man, saved by the grace of God. He offers a living example that you don't have to pretend to be perfect or fit a mold to be a follower of Christ.

We are all broken, to one degree or another, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
....
If you will notice in the Bible, we are told of failures and sins of almost every major figure. There is a reason for this in my opinion. We are not to hold them up as perfect or as the best example, but to Christ. All of them were sinners and all of them were flawed, except the one perfect, fully man, fully God, Jesus Christ. God uses everyone and he can reach people with Anthony that some of the greatest men of God of our generation could not reach.

Fulton County DA Fani Willis has evidence exonerating Republicans she’s targeting in her 98-page Georgia indictment. //

The revelations unearthed in the transcript raise a significant question: If Willis was in possession of the transcript prior to Aug. 14, why did she charge Shafer and Smith for allegedly partaking in a “conspiracy” to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results when the aforementioned document shows otherwise? //

Unlike the 1960 Hawaii case, which was promptly resolved in court prior to Congress’s certification of the election, the Fulton County state court reportedly violated Georgia’s election code by failing to swiftly assign a judge to hear Trump’s election challenge. Furthermore, the Georgia court delayed the first scheduled hearing of Trump’s lawsuit until Jan. 8, 2021 — “two days after Congress certified Biden the winner of the 2020 election” — which effectively guaranteed that any court decision invalidating potentially illegal ballots would be moot.

It’s worth mentioning that evidence unearthed following the 2020 election shows Trump’s legal challenge in Georgia had strong merit, with records indicating there were more illegal votes than Biden’s margin of victory in Georgia. Under state law, Georgians must vote in the county where they reside, unless they changed their residence within 30 days of Election Day.

As The Federalist reported, however, Mark Davis, the president of Data Productions Inc. and “an expert in voter data analytics and residency issues,” used data from the National Change of Address database to identify “nearly 35,000 Georgia voters who indicated they had moved from one Georgia county to another, but then voted in the 2020 general election in the county from which they had moved.” In a phone interview this week, Davis told The Federalist that more recent figures show more than 12,000 of those 35,000 Georgians later updated their voter registration addresses, “providing the secretary of state the exact address they had previously provided to the [U.S. Postal Service].” In other words, more than 12,000 in-state movers tacitly confirmed they illegally cast their vote in the wrong county in 2020.

With device geometries on semiconductor chips continuing to shrink in order to pack ever more transistors onto a chip, semiconductor manufacturers reached a point where the device features they needed to make were smaller than the wavelength of visible light, previously used to print structures on chips through the process of photolithography. High-end chip manufacturers such as Taiwan Semiconductor (TSMC), Samsung, and Intel have migrated their cutting edge fabrication to extreme ultraviolet photolithography (EUV), using a wavelength of 13.5 nanometres, a part of the electromagnetic spectrum previously called “soft X-rays” before being renamed to something less scary. (By comparison, visible light is in the range from 380 [violet] to 750 [red] nanometres.)

EUV is a technology which not only allows building things never imagined during the golden age of science fiction, it is made up of parts that, had Doc Smith dropped them into one of his Skylark novels, would have been considered techno-confabulation (“400,000° Celsius laser-driven tin plasma light source”).

But, as those who wish to survive in the semiconductor business must constantly ask, “What’s next?” As node sizes scale below the next major milestone of 3 nanometres, the sole survivor in the high-end photolithography market, Netherlands’ ASML (formerly Advanced Semiconductor Materials Lithography before, like all big companies, it decided a meaningless name was more appropriate) has decided the next milestone will be achieved by increasing what is called the “numerical aperture” of its photolithography machines. Numerical aperture (NA) is a dimensionless quantity that measures the amount of light an optical system can deliver to its target (similar to an f-stop 4 in visible light photography). Present-day EUV machines from ASML have a NA of 0.33, which allows a resolution of 13 nanometres (note that the optical resolution of the photolithography machine, the feature size on the chip, and the “node size” of the process are all different things, with the latter having more to do with the marketing department than engineering or manufacturing). The next generation high numerical aperture (high-NA) EUV machines under development by ASML aim to increase NA to 0.55, initially allowing 8 nanometre resolution, with scaling to as small as 3 nanometres in the future. This requires hardware even more science-fictioney than existing EUV, but also revision of the entire fabrication process. Masks (the master pattern printed on the chips), photoresists (exposed by the lithography process), and even the silicon wafers and positioning equipment (that must have extraordinary flatness and precision to cope with the minuscule depth of field at such resolutions) must adapt.